About the great benefits of GMOs
Alexander Panchin, "Novaya Gazeta", 13.03.2008
Today, the world's population is about 6.65 billion people, united by the desire to eat well. Despite all the achievements in the field of food production, eight hundred million people in the world are experiencing chronic food shortages, thousands die of hunger every day. Today there are positive trends in the eradication of hunger on the globe, associated with breakthroughs in agriculture. They began back in the tenth millennium BC, when humanity first learned to select and cultivate plants: barley, peas, lentils, chickpeas, flax. In order to feed himself, man created artificial selection aimed at preserving healthy food crops, pushing natural selection into the background.
In the XV century, there is a global exchange of cultivated plants: tomatoes, potatoes, cocoa, spices, coffee, sugar cane. Plants enter new ecosystems, adapt to new living conditions, and their genes change. According to modern estimates, more than half of the increase in agricultural production in the history of mankind was due to changes in the genes of cultivated plants. These changes were made when people decided what to sow and what not, or when plants of different varieties were specially crossed. In the latter case, a hybrid with a set of useful qualities was often obtained due to the effect of heterosis: a hybrid variety can receive useful genes from both parents. Later it turned out that it was possible to grow new varieties of plants by irradiating seeds with radiation or by acting on them with chemical mutagens. Radiation caused changes in a large number of genes at once, but only some changes were beneficial, and many were harmful, so it was necessary to get rid of harmful mutations by numerous crosses of new forms among themselves until healthy individuals were obtained. Such technologies have been replaced by genetic engineering, which makes it possible to purposefully change the hereditary information of living organisms by changing their properties. If random genetic changes and artificial selection are at the heart of breeding, genetic engineering is based on a well-thought-out act of creation.
Naturally, this new phenomenon caused distrust among the population. How and what scientists who receive GM organisms do is a mystery that is shrouded in darkness for most people. Using this, the science of "genetic engineering", as well as the science of "ecology" or "theory of evolution", was politicized. Suddenly it turned out that ecology can be "good" and "bad" (ecology, like mathematics, is a science, and no one says, "we have bad mathematics" when there is no money), and we are threatened with death from global warming, although only 10 years ago we miraculously escaped from the promised global cold snap. Evolution turned out to be a "religion", and its teaching in schools was a reason to demand the study of creationism. Genetic engineering was waiting for the role of "universal evil", with which knights in green shoulder straps are valiantly fighting, mercilessly chopping down the thickets of GM cabbage that got in the way of the cherished parliamentary seats. While some countries industriously mastered new technologies and reaped the economic benefits of progress, others experienced bouts of nervous convulsions, hopelessly being left behind. The situation of Russia in this area is sad: the EU and the USA have "read" dozens of complete genomes of animals and plants, including the human genome (and several times), the rice genome has been read in China, and in our country small bacterial genomes are hardly read (the genome is a set of genetic information of an organism). We chase after "nanorobots" and forget that nature has already created "robots" of all shapes and sizes – biological organisms. They already exist, they do not need to be created from scratch – you just need to learn how to disassemble and reassemble, like an elegant bioconstructor. Assembled once, such a "robot" produces its own kind and works for the benefit of humanity.
Recently, the phrase was heard on television: "Ordinary plants do not contain genes, but genetically modified ones do." It turned out that, according to sociological research, more than a third of the Russians surveyed are mistaken in this matter. All living organisms, without exception, have genes. Moreover, the plants we consume for food are not genetically identical. Every tomato eaten has some mutations, every banana may have a gene changed without our knowledge. This is primarily taken care of by solar radiation and other sources of genetic variability, this was taken care of by breeders breeding new varieties. Genetic changes of organisms are a completely natural process in nature, without which biological evolution is impossible. A good example is the selection of dwarf rice in China. Tall rice bends under its own weight and with diligent growth can tip over, fall to the ground and rot. A new form of dwarf rice, bred by breeding methods, allowed to increase the yield of rice fields by 50% ("green revolution"). As it turned out later, dwarf rice differs from ordinary rice by a single gene, the gene of an enzyme that turns an inactive form of the plant growth hormone giberelin into an active one. Dwarf rice does not produce enough giberelin, which is why it grows small, convenient for agriculture. If a modern genetic engineer had approached the problem of rice yield, he would have introduced a point mutation into the gene of the enzyme that activates giberelin, and would have achieved exactly the same result in less time.
How are genetic modifications made? Here is one possible scenario. In nature, there is a type of agrobacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Bacteria of this species are able to penetrate into plant tissues and transfer a fragment of the so-called T-DNA T–plasmid into their cells (a plasmid is a small circular DNA molecule that lives and multiplies inside bacterial cells). T-DNA is embedded in plant chromosomes, and tumor genes are included on it, forcing plant cells to actively divide and secrete nutrients, which creates favorable conditions for the life of agrobacteria. Scientists have learned how to cut tumor genes from T-DNA, and instead insert genes encoding useful proteins. Agrobacteria with an altered T-plasmid change the properties of plants by embedding useful genes in them.
So a gene was embedded in GM cotton that encodes an insecticide protein (Bt - insect poison) taken from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. Bt kills insects of some orders (lepidoptera – butterfly caterpillars, diptera – flies and mosquitoes, coleoptera – beetles, for example, the Colorado beetle). At the same time, Bt not only turned out to be safe for animals and humans, but also quite harmless for insects from other orders, including useful species. The use of the Bt gene in cotton and other plants (tobacco, corn) not only makes it possible to fight harmful insects more effectively, but also to use fewer insecticides in the fields, which reduces the cost of cotton and reduces the environmental damage caused by agriculture. So, over the ten years of Bt's application, it was possible to save 36 thousand tons of insecticides and win about $ 10 billion, a significant part of which fell on small and medium-sized farms.
There is another approach. Herbicides are plant–killing substances used to control weeds. With the help of genetic engineering, plant species (including soybeans) resistant to certain herbicides were obtained, which made it possible to destroy weeds without damaging valuable crops. This has significantly improved the yield of fields, facilitating the work of farmers and making their work safer. Such modifications were supposed to have a positive effect on the price of food and help to overcome hunger. However, at the same time, the use of biofuels obtained from plants began to be actively encouraged. A huge amount of agricultural products went to industrial plants, which caused a jump in food prices, which we are seeing now. This was especially reflected in India and African countries, where it became economically unprofitable to export food. It is absurd, but it turns out that moralists, fighters against "global warming", ideologists of green movements are indirectly responsible for the starvation of thousands of people and high price tags in stores.
Embedded insecticides and herbicide resistance are the most common genetic modifications.
But not all genetic modifications are aimed at making life easier for producers. In particular, a special rice variety has been developed that produces an increased amount of vitamin A. The lack of this vitamin in food greatly affects the level of infant mortality. GM rice will help significantly reduce the amount of vitamin deficiency in children. Corn producing the protein lactalbumin, which is naturally found in mammalian breast milk, turned out to be more nutritious and healthy due to the fact that the amino acid composition of the proteins of such corn is closer to the amino acid composition of animals. In the future, it is planned to improve the taste of food.
The economic advantages of GM products are obvious, but is there a danger to our health? Of course, there are risks. For example, it was shown that some people allergic to Brazil nuts suffered from an allergic reaction when eating GM soy, in which the content of one of the amino acids, methionine, was increased due to the biosynthesis of nut protein. It turned out that this particular protein is associated with this form of allergy. However, this soy was intended for livestock feed, not for people. There have also been studies that the consumption of modified MON863 corn affects the size of the kidneys of rats, but the differences turned out to be so insignificant that they were later attributed to experimental errors. At the same time, we know that ordinary food (without GM organisms) can be very dangerous. For example, two hundred people a year manage to be poisoned to death with such an exotic delicacy as puffer fish (ball fish): the liver of the fish contains a strong poison. Here GM products have an advantage – they are all carefully checked for edibility, often much better than conventional products. Due to the laws on consumer protection, the manufacturer is obliged to prove the safety of each new modified variety. GM products have been around for more than 13 years, and there is no real evidence that it is unsafe to consume them yet.
The following is important: all the genes that are embedded in GM organisms somehow exist in nature. Scientists don't invent anything from scratch. They simply take a gene from one organism and embed it into another, or modify a naturally occurring gene with a couple of mutations. Genetic engineering is like a designer, where nature supplies us with all the details in the form of genes, and scientists rearrange them in places. We eat potatoes, we eat rice, and nothing will fundamentally change from the fact that the rice gene appears in potatoes. GM corn differs from the original, unmodified corn much less than two different varieties of corn found in nature. People modify one or two genes, and nature is constantly mutating and changing entire genomes before our eyes. Against this background, even the theoretical threat of GM products to health is minimal. In any case, according to the law, products containing 0.9% or more GM components must have special signatures on the labels, and the buyer has the right to consciously decide what tastes better. This is certainly correct.
Another reason for criticism of GM organisms is related to the threat of "gene leakage": genes from an altered variety can "jump" to a wild species. The wild species will gain an advantage, due to which it will grow, which can lead to undesirable consequences for the environment. Similarly, there is a fear that the genes of birds can jump to elephants and they will learn to fly by flapping their ears, which will lead to casualties among the population as a result of manure bombing from the sky. Yes, such phenomena, called horizontal gene transfer, occur in nature. But they also occur without human intervention – the genes that scientists use to create GM products are already in nature, and nothing prevents these genes from "jumping" from one plant species to another, except that it is extremely unlikely. Also, do not forget that potatoes and tomatoes brought to Europe from the New World contained much more "new genes" and had a much stronger impact on the environment than GM plants can even theoretically affect.
There is still a possibility that the GM plants themselves will "escape" into the wild and spread in it. The scariest thing here is the lawsuits that await the unfortunate farmer who accidentally finds a GM spikelet in the forest, whose modified genes are patented and protected by copyright law. If a farmer unknowingly decides to breed such a spikelet, he may be prosecuted for theft and for selling a GM product without a license. Fortunately for such a farmer, it is possible to distinguish a GM product from a non-GM product only in a special laboratory.
Under the conditions of the copyright law on GM organisms, one can only fantasize about the sad fate of a genetically modified person of the future, who will be banned from reproducing and distributing his genes independently without the permission of the owners of the modified intellectual property.
Some critics say: "The worst thing about GM products is that they can't be distinguished from ordinary ones" – that's right, but if you can't distinguish, then what are they worse for?
The nature of the fight against GM products is frightening: the ban on their import is most often associated with political and economic considerations, not security considerations. In 2006, the WTO recognized the bans on the import of GM products by some EU countries as unjustified, contrary to international trade law: all scientific data indicate the harmlessness of GM products, according to WTO scientific experts. Of course, no one wants to import cheap products, but it is necessary not to prohibit others' products, but to make their own.
Finally, a short digression into other areas of genetic engineering. Recently, the Canadian firm Nexia bred goats in which the spider web protein gene was embedded. It turned out that spider web protein can be successfully obtained from the milk of such goats. This material with the running name "biostal" turned out to be stronger and lighter than Kevlar, and this quality was taken into account by the military: soldiers are already preparing to put on the first bulletproof vests made of cobwebs. Other goats were able to embed the gene of the antibacterial protein lysozyme. This protein is found in women's breast milk and protects children from eating disorders. It is believed that the consumption of goat's milk enriched with lysozyme will protect children from diarrhea and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, which are the cause of death of approximately two million children annually. Another invention is the production of kosher cheese: traditionally, rennet (a part of the digestive tract of ruminants) is taken to make cheese, dried and placed in milk. Rennet contains rennet enzymes that turn milk into cheese, but the Old Testament says: "Do not boil a lamb in its mother's milk," and such cheese obtained from meat and milk is food objectionable to God from the Torah. Genetic engineers took the genes of rennet enzymes and embedded them in bacteria, which made it possible to produce cheese without using the intestines of ruminants, that is, kosher cheese. Science has never cooperated with religion in such a way. The genes of fluorescent proteins from some corals have been integrated into the butterfly in such a way that its eyes glow green when irradiated with ultraviolet light. Such butterflies are of aesthetic value, and collectors are particularly interested in them. Genetic engineering is also actively used in medicine, whether it is GM bacteria that produce insulin, or modified immune cells, lymphocytes equipped with special receptors for the search and destruction of cancer cells. Genetic engineering is a progressive field of science that has already given a lot to humanity, and in the future it will give even more if we are not afraid of it.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru14.03.2008